Feed your birds suet. While most humans don't want a lot of fat in their diet, for birds in winter, fat is an excellent source of energy. Suet is, simply, fat. More specifically, it’s the fat that forms around the kidneys of beef cattle. Butchers remove this stuff, and back when every neighborhood had a butcher shop, they used to give it away to bird watchers. Then grocery stores got smart and started selling suet. You've probably seen it: large chunks of white fat wrapped in plastic in the meat case. Birds love suet, and it is especially valuable to insect-eating species during the winter, when insects are scarce or absent from much of the continent. Woodpeckers, bluebirds, warblers, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, creepers, wrens, wrentits, jays, thrashers, mockingbirds and even sparrows and towhees are all big fans of suet.
Feb 26, 2016 |
Featured Web Article
Winter Bird Feeding Tip: The Benefits of Suet
Eastern bluebirds are just one species that will gorge on suet dough when it is offered at a backyard feeding station.
What do you think? Tell us!
comments powered by DisqusNew On This Site
Watch for the Winter Warbler added on Feb 20, 2019
Are You Joining the Great Backyard Bird Count? added on Feb 13, 2019
The Hopeful Season added on Feb 6, 2019
Red Bllied woodpecker added in the gallery by Lynne Thomas on Dec 11, 2018
Rube-throated Male Hummingbird at feeder. added in the gallery by Sharon Stangle on Oct 5, 2018
Ruby-troated Male Hummingbird added in the gallery by Sharon Stangle on Oct 5, 2018
The Latest Comments